


Testament to an unconventional friendship

by o0Anapher0o



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Character Death, Friendship, Gen, I hope, but not sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21743845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/o0Anapher0o/pseuds/o0Anapher0o
Summary: Guy Stanley is grappling a little with one of his mother’s bequests.
Relationships: Albert "Bert" Johnson & Prudence Stanley
Comments: 12
Kudos: 73





	Testament to an unconventional friendship

**Author's Note:**

> In my mind this is set sometime in the 50s, because Aunt P absolutely lives at least until she’s 120. I really love her friendship with Bert, but I find it a bit difficult to write directly, hence this.  
> 'This' is more a fragment than anything; I’ve been trying to make something out of it for months but nothing ever came of it. I really like the idea though, so I’m posting it anyway.

„You must be joking!“  
Guy’s face indicated that if it was a joke he utterly failed to see the humour in it. Mr Hunter, the family solicitor, bore it with professional stoicism.  
“I’m afraid not, Sir. The wording in your mother’s will is quite clear.”  
Guy gaped at him, still incredulous.  
“’For services and kindnesses done over the years’.” he quoted, “Who is this Albert Johnson? How come I’ve never heard of this fellow?”  
Phryne suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.  
“You have met him Guy. He was a footman at your engagement party.” she pointed out, knowing all too well that that event was decades in the past and her cousin would hardly remember everyone of his invited guests, let alone a member of staff.  
“A footman?” Guy exclaimed.  
To his credit Phryne had to admit that he seemed to be utterly gobsmacked rather than outraged and for that she could hardly blame him. It seemed rather unlike her Aunt Prudence to bequeath a substantial part of her estate to a mere servant. Not enough to seriously diminish Guy’s own inheritance, but enough for Bert to life quite comfortably for the rest of his life and then some.  
Phryne herself had been only marginally less surprised when she had been called in to sign the will as a witness a few months ago. And she had known that Bert was anything but a mere servant to her aunt. He wasn’t even officially in her employ. She had been immensely pleased though. Bert had grown rather fond of aunt P over the years, in his own contrary kind of way and especially after Arthur’s death he had become quite protective about her. Phryne had been incredibly glad to see her aunt appreciate the sentiment, even if it was usually uttered by way of a snarky remark.  
Next to her Jack chuckled lightly.  
“I wouldn’t call him that to his face.” he advised Guy, his eyes dancing with mirth.  
No matter what political differences he had had with Bert over the years, he had come to know the softer side of the man and couldn’t help but feel he utterly deserved this token of Prudence’s affection, for lack of a better word. At least more than Guy who had enjoyed nothing in his life so much as to make his mother squint and bristle with outrage, and hadn’t bothered to show his face to her in over two decades for more than few days at a time. Jack couldn’t say he had ever fully understood the prickly friendship that had somehow developed between the proprietary battle axe that was Prudence Stanley and the grumpy, self-righteous rabble-rouser that was Bert Johnson, but there was no mistaken that they had formed some kind of deep, if unconventional bond. And unconventional was practically a given in the Fisher-Stanley family anyway. Besides, the idea of the incurable red-ragger, who hadn’t stopped railing against the capitalist menace even to this day, suddenly finding himself a very wealthy man himself, amused Jack to no end. Why should he be the only one to suffer an unexpected shift in station?  
“He cared for Aunt P, every single day for the last two years Guy.” Phryne explained to her still stunned cousin.  
Guy fell heavily onto a chair.  
“We could have hired a care taker for her. She always insisted she didn’t need one.” he said, still sounding rather disbelieving.  
“Even if you had Bert would have been there every day regardless,” his cousin pointed out gently, “and he wouldn’t have taken a penny for it. He was a lot more to her than a servant.”  
Guy’s eyes grew even larger. “You mean…”  
This time even Phryne’s best efforts couldn’t keep the eye roll at bay.  
“He was her friend, Guy.” she said exasperatedly. “A true friend. And Aunt P wasn’t stupid enough to underestimate how rare that is.”


End file.
